Tuesday, July 27, 2010

So the Mrs. asked me to pen a guest blog about irrigation. Unfortnuately (for you), I don’t have her wit, brevity, or ability to use spell check. Still, I will do my best.

When we recently spent a week away from our home, we realized that one can go a long way towards having a green thumb by first having a wet thumb. Plants mostly want light and water, and, if you’re anything like me, it’s far too easy to provide the former and neglect the latter. That’s where your local home improvement superstore (or neighborhood hardware store, for that matter) can help...with automatic irrigation! Being an engineer, I’ll break irrigation down into arbitrary and meaningless categories

Boring prerequisite stuff

Timing devices

The water “backbone” (I’d love to have a better title)

Drippers, misters, and emitters...oh my!

Tune up

Boring Prerequisite StuffFirst of all, there are likely to be many “code” requirements for irrigation systems of which I am unaware. Unless you have a particularly nasty homeowners association, it seems pretty unlikely that you’ll fall victim to the irrigation police. Still, it’s wise to understand if your neighborhood/city/state/region have any specific irrigation regulations of which they are particularly fond.

An important note: You don’t want to suspend too much stuff from your garden hose outlet. I ended up running a heavy duty short hose from the backflow preventer to the ground and then set up the timers on the ground. Make sure it’s a good hose if you do this, because it will be charged (under pressure) all the time. If it ruptures, there will be lots and lots of water on the ground...

Water Backbone

You can probably identify a reasonably straight line (or a few lines) that will get pretty close to most of your plants. The plan is to run a reasonably large “backbone” or “header” on this line, and then tap that line to get water to your plants.

Buy some drippers & misters that are larger and smaller than the ones you think you might need, so you can...

Tune up!:

You’ll want to monitor closely for the first few days and weeks to make sure that your system is properly balanced. I use a moisture sensor to see how all the plants are doing...probably best to check just before the next irrigation cycle is due.

Seems like the plants should be on the dry side of the scale but not dusty or anything. If all your plants are soggy, you might want to reduce the time on the timer. If they’re all droopy, you might want to add some time to all. If some are looking good while others are dry, you’ll want to use a larger dripper or mister on that specific plant. You can also use 1/2 inch T’s (http://www.amazon.com/Barbed-Tee-Pack-50/dp/B00263C0RU/ref=pd_sim_ol_12) and put a separate dripper or mister in, if needed. Turn on each timer manually for a few minutes and make sure that all the drippers/misters are working properly.

I hope this helps. It’s a little bit of an investment up front in time and money, but really pays off with the ability to have lots of lovely plants that you know won’t be dead in two weeks!

The Mr.

** zentMRS here - Did you enjoy The Mr's info? He's wicked smart. He'd be happy to answer any questions you might have. About irrigation or other stuff. (He didn't say that exactly, but I figure he will if you ask...) In the meantime, check out An Oregon Cottage for her weekly Garden Party.

My irrigation tip is to marry a man who is good at putting in irrigation or willing to learn! :D My long-suffering husband has spent a lot of time in the hardware store and digging in the back yard as I attempt to turn Mordor into the Hundred Acre Wood. He is determined that our next move will be to a location that actually receives some precipitation. :)

That is a really helpful post--thank you! So my question is: What if you rotate your garden beds each year, so different plants are grown in different spots? How easy is it to adapt an irrigation system to a garden that gets moved around each year? Or is this simply a better solution for permanent plantings?

As someone who hand waters just about everything in the yard and garden I can appreciate this post. It has been on my to do list for a few years now... I just can't seem to motivate myself. Perhaps this is just what I needed!

How did the critter guard work on your bird feeder?

Thanks for visiting myeverydaygraces... the onion jam was delish, can't wait to make more! It is perfect for an antipasto plate.

Wow a guest blogger and an irrigation system. Fancy stuff! :) I just wanted to personally invite you to my "Canning Week Blog Party" August 23-27th. I've seen your Rosmary Jelly and hope you will link up to our party. We will also have guest blogers with tips, recipes and of course recipes. Can't wait!!!!

Fantastic directions… My back patio has absolutely no plants (oops, did I type that out loud?). We have plenty of ground for gardens, and I just haven't gotten around to it - mainly because of cost of getting it going and the upkeep with watering it all. I usually over or under water potted plants, being consistently inconsistent…

I already spend a good hour every couple of days in the main gardens and want to actually sit to enjoy the patio. This post really helps me understand how I can plan it out for when I do get planters designed and attempt to build them (I see big, long, elevated planting beds - somehow…).